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The Dragonsea Temple of Haelyn is devoted primarily to Haelyn as the Lawmaker. Haelyn is revered as a paragon of kingship, courage, chivalry, command of armies, and stern yet merciful justice. The temple teaches that its followers that Haelyn established a social order for the good of all his people. This order includes a dual hierarchy of priests and nobles. Its rituals, rites, and forms of worship are very traditional and look and feel much as they did during the Imperial Temple.

The doctrine of the Dragonsea Temple of Haelyn is based primarily on the Book of Laws, the sacred text of Haelyn, read closely using sophisticated textual methods. The centrality of the Book of Laws, interpreted by skilled textual analysts, supercedes all other teachings and interpretations. Other sects may consult other texts as key commentaries on Haelyn's intentions in the Book of Laws, or they may use other interpretive methods to read it. The Dragonsea Temple regards the Orthodox Imperial Temple as the authority in the Book of Laws. While sending students to Aerele is prohibitive, collecting books copied from the scholars there is prized.

As taught in the Book of Laws, society, laws, and culture are a mark of civilization. Haelyn is the Lord of Rulership, and thus it is the duty of his faithful to establish a civilized society with clear, just laws to guide it. By this observation of laws and dispensation of justice, adhered to by all people in the society, Haelyn can be honored more fully. Just as nobles are created and ordered as part of a just, lawful society, so likewise are religious ceremonies and rituals are a mark of a cultured society and thus a great civilization. Such ceremonies demonstrate the greatness of Haelyn, uplifting the spirits of the faithful and as a result increasing their religious fervor, driving them on to greater deeds in Haelyn's honor. Priests preserve and employ the rites and rituals described in the Book of Laws for the benefit of all the people.

The Dragonsea Temple of Haelyn was grew out of the Imperial Temple of Haelyn and its evangelistic knightly order, the Holy Order of Haelyn's Aegis. Composed of knights, militant priests, and dedicated soldiers, the Holy Order was the military army of the Imperial Temple. When the Imperial Temple called warriors to serve the Emperor and bring the wisdom of Haelyn's worship and the benefits of Anuirean civilization to the rest of Cerilia, it was the Holy Order that answered the call. As an imperial order dedicated to spreading values, the order also became tolerant of what it encountered and found it best to evangelize by example and to offer Haelyn and Anuire as something good in addition to what was good about the native cultures it dominated. In this way the Holy Order became quite accepting of differences without losing its own core values.

When the Imperial Temple sundered, in the early decades of the 4th century MR, the Holy Order of Haelyn's Aegis separated from the political reaction and fierce parochialism of the leadership of the Imperial Temple in Aerele. The Holy Order adopted a conciliatory tone and worked towards reconciliation in the spirit of the Holy Order's many successes. As a result, the Holy Order broke away and formed a new temple to be called Haelyn's Aegis. Initially, the remnants of the Imperial Temple in Khinasi and other places followed the lead of Haelyn's Aegis, but the collapse of the Imperial Temple into competing ideological and political churches would continue.

Though adhering to the organization of the Holy Order of Haelyn's Aegis, maintaining orthodox views towards rites, worship, and teaching of Haelyn, and a fully Haelynite view of the world, the Dragonsea Temple split off from Haelyn's Aegis in 380 MR. Soon after an internal split took place between those who worshiped Haelyn as the source of all values and the king of all the gods, and those who worshiped Hala´a in a more narrow form as the patron of soldiers, commanders, and the warrior code. Those who took the narrow view saw Hala´a as their patron as soldiers of courage and honor, but saw him only as a member of a Khinasi pantheon lead by Avani, and took broader values from the sun godess. A key division between this breakaway temple, known as the Shield of Hala´a, and the Dragonsea Temple involved the role of Haelyn as a source of justice, law, and rulership. For the Dragonsea Temple and its followers, Haelyn remained the primary source of inspiration in these affairs, and law and justice were interpreted in terms of Haelyn's teachings on order, mercy, and teachings found in the Book of Laws. The Shield of Hala´a saw Avani as the source of law, and the role of the warrior in upholding the will of the scholar-judges of Avani rather than the lawpriests of Haelyn.